It was premiered in Paris on 24 October 1927, at the Salle Gaveau, with the composer conducting the Orchestra of the Concerts Colonne and Aline van Barentzen and Tomás Terán, pianos.

[1] Despite these documented performances, the year of composition has been called into question by one scholar, who asserts that the work was conceived in Paris in 1925, but completed only after the composer's return to Rio de Janeiro in 1930.

8 is scored for two pianos and an orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, tam-tam, tambourine, tamborim, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, 2 metal chocalhos (small and large), reco-reco, caracaxá, caraxá, puíta, ratchet, xylophone), celesta, 2 harps, and strings.

At the time of its Paris premiere, this Chôros was called "Le fou huitième" (The Mad Eighth), for its extravagant scoring and unconventional performing techniques, as well as for its superimposition of multiple opposing rhythms and tonalities.

[7] The work appears to be conceived as an exploration of the possibilities of concatenation of sound blocks assembled from ostinato figurations.